Top executives from jetBlue Airlines are on the Island meeting with the Tourism and Transport Ministers to try to increase weak passenger numbers during the shoulder and off seasons.The executives’ visit is not to deliver an ultimatum that they will withdraw flights if there is no improvement, said Scott Laurence, network planning and partnerships executive. At a press conference yesterday, he said: “Our hair is not on fire,” adding: “We will be successful.”However, calling their meetings “very serious”, the chief commercial officer for the airline Robin Hayes said: “We have to stimulate demand to Bermuda.”“We’re concerned with our performance off-peak,” said Robert Land, a jetBlue founder who is also a member of the visiting team and the airline’s government affairs executive, adding they would specifically like to improve their performance in September and October, months he described as “lovely” in Bermuda.“Hotel occupancy is very low and we’d like to tell the northeast US that Bermuda is a great place to go.”Specifically, the team are concerned about the winter season and would like to see an improved performance during that period when jetBlue provides a regular service from Boston. They are looking particularly at the convention and incentive markets, which he said had dropped off in 2008 but are slowly rising again.“We’re working to do better in that sector,” said Mr Laurence. Sports and other special events are also part of an emerging plan. They will to help market Bermuda through their TrueBlue members’ programme which boasts more than six million members as well as their jetBlue Getaways vacation programme.Mr Hayes said: “We started flights to Bermuda in 2006; we have enjoyed our partnership.” He said the Island was one of jetBlue’s first international destinations, and today they fly to 25. “Success is not something we take for granted,” he said. “We want to reconnect with our stakeholders and grow the market in the next few years, and increase performance during the winter season.”Fares are not as big an issue with jetBlue as other airlines who structure their fares structures according to passenger numbers on the flights — which occurs particularly in the Caribbean market. “They have an amount of fixed capacity; (as it fills up) they just charge more. (At jetBlue) we have maximum fares we look at — then we add capacity to bring fares back down.“We want to be in a position to grow our capacity.”